POSTI CHE HANNO FATTO LA STORIA

Il Chelsea Hotel (222, W 23rd St.), costruzione dall’architettura vagamente gotica, è passato alla storia per aver dato ospitalità al mondo artistico di culto, grande per le sue innovazioni, ma irrimediabilmente a corto di mezzi economici. Noto per la sua permissività che gli ha conferito anche una fama equivoca, il Chelsea Hotel ricorda gli ospiti celebri che sono passati dalle sue stanze con delle targhe in ottone affisse sulla sua facciata. Il poeta Dylan Thomas, morto alcolizzato nel 1953, visse qui gli ultimi anni della sua vita tormentata, mentre Henry Miller e alcuni esponenti della beat generation, come Allen Ginsberg e Jack Kerouac elessero questo albergo, negli anni Cinquanta, come loro punto di riferimento. Woody Guthrie vi fece tappa per un certo periodo e Bob Dylan vi visse per alcune settimane negli anni Sessanta. Qui, secondo quanto lui stesso racconta nella sua canzone Sara, scrisse una delle sue composizioni più belle, Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, nel 1966. Il bassista della punk band Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, accoltellò qui nel ’78 la sua giovane fidanzata Nancy e sempre da queste stanze passarono i più bei nomi della musica rock degli anni Sessanta, come Janis Joplin e Leonard Cohen che dedicò a questo albergo la splendida Chelsea Hotel #2 in cui ricorda una storia d’amore consumata in poche ore ("Ti ricordo bene nel Chelsea Hotel, parlavi con voce ferma e dolce. Me lo succhiavi sul letto disfatto, mentre le limousine attendevano in strada"). Anche il cinema ha trovato spazio in questo albergo: nel ’66 Andy Wharol, reduce dalle sue esperienze con i Velvet Underground, vi ambientò il film Chelsea Girls. "I've lived at the hotel on and off since 1974. I wrote the songs for Ramones, I get my best work done here at the hotel because it's quiet; the walls are really thick. I just want privacy. The Hotel is a nuthouse, but this is the place where I feel the safest. No matter where I go the Chelsea has always been a home for me. I tried to live a suburban lifestyle, but couldn't handle it because of all the traveling, commuting. I want to stay here, but people find out that I'm here, just knock on my door and then I end up with stalkers, so I have to move out for a while. The Ramones were an instant success, all the guys had been in other bands, and I wanted to retire from music when I was 20, but the record company kept giving us another deal. I've got a new book out called, "How I Survived the Ramones." I felt like telling the story of the band the way the publisher originally wanted was too harsh to tell. I wanted to tell pieces of the story, a lot of the good parts. The co-writers wanted to do vicious stories. I didn't want to trash the guys, so I had to write it myself. We're still friends. I feel good about it. I still play with all the guys occasionally, and I still have fun playing the songs with them. I'm going to write an album for them. I have my own album coming out, but I don't think I'll tour with it. You see, I went to see Soundgarden with Marky Ramone a bit ago, and it brought back bad memories of being in a band. The way the band breaks things with all the tension and negativity. So no tour. I like the hotel because it's a very social place. I saw a suicide here: a woman jumped from the ninth floor, and I heard a big noise when she hit a cab and landed right in front of me. The woman lay there for four hours, covered by a tarp, before they took her away. But out of this terrible thing, quite a few friendships developed as people in the building rallied together. I'm also writing another book. " - Dee Dee Ramone -